


XCIV

by dahkkun



Series: XCIV [1]
Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Bathtub, Bruises, F/F, Self-Indulgent, Wine, doubts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:34:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29963055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dahkkun/pseuds/dahkkun
Summary: Minji only dwells in the waters that numbs her whole, and never in the affection she describes as credulous.
Relationships: Kim Minji | JiU/Lee Siyeon
Series: XCIV [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2205420
Kudos: 36





	XCIV

Minji doesn't know why, but she sees Siyeon standing at the arch of her bathroom's doorway, leaning against its borders with brows furrowing hard against Siyeon's valley that could have erupted a fault if not for the concern that subsides it.

She remembers texting her that she was fine, and that there was no need for her to come into her apartment because she had _things_ to do.

Hours ago, she was typing furiously on her phone, struggling to come up with an excuse to put the raven-haired girl at bay. Being in contact with her at that moment didn't sit right in her mind, linking to that would be the gloom that settles in within her that is deliberately consuming, unabling her to even be concise with all the thoughts running and colliding with itself just as fast she left Siyeon hanging on read midst their chat.

Surely she gave enough reassurance she was alright and that she needed some time alone because work has been piling and pulling her apart a lot these days, especially when her boss has been demanding more than usual and some of her fellow workers had the guts to even pass each other's work in barters Minji wouldn't understand. They were not the only ones suffering from the sudden increased stipulation.

To which right now, just makes sense she wanted to be with herself, even momentarily, to clear her thoughts about life — and this chronic phobia she has been accumulating overtime because of the passing seconds that transforms to months and years until it molds to decades that is eating her alive. It doesn't even get better when these transitories don't give any considerations, as it only moves forward, never stopping and just advances without care. For that, it's dangerous on its own.

These turbulences shouldn't have brought Siyeon in her secluded shelter, away from even those who knew her (though, to be fair, they were only Bora, Handong, and Yubin). For one, it's because Siyeon doesn't have any reason to be here, let alone should have the will to. Second, is that she already hinted that she wants to be alone via her messages and how curt she had been responding. Third, and it's the most obvious out of the three, is that she specifically told her not to come, nor should she use the spare key she gave her in case of any emergencies to let herself in.

Yet, right now, as she's naked and the majority of her body's succumbed into frigid, ice biting water, Siyeon's here, in one of her worst states that she could have ever dread for the other to see. Because she is Minji. And she, herself, doesn't allow weakness in dire times, or even the mundane ones that usually follow level-headed decisions and thought out words.

She is Minji, and she's supposed to be stronger than both of them. Holding herself grounded, thought out and persevered in a lot of aspects that not all can have. She can have the will to repel any negativity and flip it upside down without effort.

A sun that ignites the absence of it, and the dull that never gets to devour her whole because she's already used to this.

Then again, here she was, vulnerable in the darkness she allowed to reach her. The crumbling worry could have insulted her if it wasn't for the fact that she cares for Siyeon — perhaps more than she had initially thought — for what she thinks about her as of then and now.

Siyeon takes a step, her boots resounding caution on her messy tiled floor.

It was enough for Minji to fidget in her crouched stance, head tilting to raise her lips from the water, "What are you doing here?"

Minji holds back a shiver. The intensified cold was a necessity.

"You… weren't answering any of my calls"

"Do I have any reason to?" She bites quite harshly, mostly because she doesn't have the strength to carry on with this conversation.

Siyeon takes in a breath. She knows Minji was right.

"No, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't"

"You never listen to whatever I say anyway," Minji tells, weakness in her tone — a mistake she always makes every time she's with Siyeon — as water ripples throughout the expanse when she shifts, stiffly, from the tub to face her guest, "Is it my fault that I do the same?"

Siyeon frowns, hard, and saunters away from the door and towards where Minji resides, the creasing sound of plastic accompanied her and that was when Minji realizes Siyeon brought something else than herself.

Minji felt her heart get crushed, deliberately, in a way that dampens her edges as she witnesses Siyeon drag a chair and settle at the border of the bathtub.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Siyeon shouldn't have ever seen her like this.

Now, they were face to face. Siyeon was a bit higher from her line of sight, and can be a breath away if she wants to. Minji wants to cower back into the waters, feeling more conscious when Siyeon's eyes were on her intricately, in scrutiny, as she can see clearly the marring lilac and olive, the lines that were running red, and the ache only Minji can feel, decorating all over her body. And even if Minji tries to hug her knees closer to her chest, the action would be already too obvious, and too late for her to cover up what's already there. More so when Siyeon's pupils lowered, then went to lean back and saw three bottles of empty wine just discarded near the tub's stand.

It was to numb the pain, Minji would try to infer.

But Siyeon already knew that, and ignored the snarking chastises wanting to be let go.

"That's more than what you usually consume," Siyeon comments instead, placing down the plastic near her boots.

"Today's commission was more… taxing," Minji truthfully replies, her muscles throbbing in the slightest as the events from today flashed briefly before her eyes — the sensation coming back at full force, remembering the knuckles in contact with each other, bullets being avoided, the struggle to keep attacking the forces, the knives being a last resort, and the chase that caused skidding and scratching her limbs on the ground, "and I needed to wind all of these down," she gestures while Siyeon understood.

An echo in the bathroom almost lulls Minji to close her eyes and rest, as Siyeon hums in acknowledgement and extends a hand to Minji's own.

Bringing up the bloodied knuckle, she examines the bruised form, its skin tainted and aching beneath all the icy compression.

"This looks bad," Siyeon feels a frown etch itself, knowing she won't be able to lay her touches on the comfort she seeks in the flesh.

She brushes her thumb gently across, noting the fractures on smooth skin and hovered it close to her lips before chasing it.

"Don't worry, I'm here"

Siyeon whispers, leaning close as she tucks in a dangling lock from the droplets that adorned Minji's face.

The injured one held her breath, lips so approximate when she felt fingers angle hers to set on crumbling eyes — one full of affection that Minji senses herself wanting to be enveloped in it.

A caress stuttered her thoughts, its touch tracing her jaw, and she leaned into it almost instantly.

"Please, let me take care of you"

Minji hears Siyeon, and she almost hates how Siyeon also knows how she'd reject the proposal just as easily. Because she was never used to being taken care of. She's always been the one fending for herself and that any ounce of reliance can lead to her demise. 

It was a preconception, but can you blame her entirely?

Siyeon captured her lips naturally, just like falling waters slipping through her fingers. Without her realizing, she has now reciprocated the endearment as fast, gears in the hinges that swiftly clicks.

She allows it all to come at full force: the heat, the need, the fuel to her subsiding exhaustion, and the quelling of her doubts.

Minji breathes in jasmine, fixating on the requisite to her beating life that she once called a defect.

"Okay, maybe just this once," she tells, foreheads touching after the collision, like a far distant tale coming to an end of its beginning. A sprout of a new chapter.

And this time, Minji lets Siyeon write it with her.

**Author's Note:**

> i am deprived
> 
> [cc](https://curiouscat.me/Dash_Satoru)


End file.
